h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Time for the solutions to the Phrasebook quiz:

1. Chechen (Hippocrene Chechen-English/English-Chechen (1997))
2. Chinese (Fingertip Chinese)
3. Gaelic (Handbook of Gaelic Phrases and Sentences, 1939)
4. Greek (Harrap's Greek phrasebook)
5. Hawaiian (Hawaiian phrasebook 1906)
6. Indonesian (Lonely Planet)
7. Korean (Lonely Planet)
8. Nepali (Lonely Planet)
9. Portuguese (Berlitz Portuguese for Travellers)
10. Russian (Berlitz Russian for Travellers)
11. Somali (Somali Handbook, 1992)
12. Swedish (Say It In Swedish 1979)
13. Tongan (A Simplified Dictionary of Modern Tongan, Appendix 3: Some Common Phrases)
14. Welsh (Get by in Welsh 1979)
15. Yiddish (Say It In Yiddish 1958)


I reckon it was a tie between Dmitri and Gnomon, so I'll have to award the points to Bluebottle for his dramatic interpretation:

1. Bluebottle
2. Gnomon/Dmitri


Before I go, a few phrases I didn't use...


Vietnamese:
Because I was out buying a pair of wooden shoes.
Vi toi mec mua doi guoc.

Greek:
I'm absolutely knackered.
Eímai ptóma stin koúrasi.

Setswana:
Inspan the oxen.
Golêga dikgomo.

Gaelic:
You will get a candle on the table.
Gheibh sibh coinneal air a' bhòrd

I'll have to get absolutely none right more often!

<BB<

Hey Gnomon - what are you doing here? I thought you were on the way to China?

[Amy P]

There was a madrigal with the lyrics "Ecco, mormorar l'ondi," which I translated as "echoes murmur in the laundry."

And "Freud schone Gotterfunken" as "Freud had a schooner named Gotterfunken."

I am on my way to China, TC. I'm waiting in Hongkong for the final flight. Might not be so easy to post once I get to China proper. I don't know if h2g2 is allowed through the Great Firewall of China.